Two cool hacks from WhatsApp, block anonymously and don’t repeat yourself

You’re in a group chat and everyone keeps asking for one set of information that was texted two days ago.

Now you can pin one message to the top of a chat, and the message will stay at the top of the chat as a banner for 24 hours.

In an update, WhatsApp has tweaked several of its arsenal of functions and this feature has our attention.  This is probably because we have been in a situation where we have repeated the same details over, and over and over… we digress.

Back to WhatsApp. 

The feature allows a pinned message to be displayed as a banner at the top of the chat until the administrator unpins it.

To pin a message follow these steps.

Android: Tap and hold the message. Tap more options > Pin > select the pin duration (24 hours, 7 days, or 30 days) > Pin.

iPhone: Tap and hold the message. Tap More options > Pin > select the pin duration (24 hours, 7 days, or 30 days).

Web and Desktop: Go to the message you want to pin and click menu > Pin message > select the pin duration (24 hours, 7 days, or 30 days) > Pin.

The feature allows users to see the pinned message even when a new user joins a group after a pinned message is set.

WhatsApp has tabled some smart features in the past but this latest update makes sense.

Safety tools for unknown senders.

The messaging service now provides users with the ability to react securely against unknown numbers texting them.

When a new message is received from an unknown number, WhatsApp will give users a series of options as part of their options to react to the message.

Users will then determine how to respond.

WhatsApp says: “These signals will let you know if they are already a contact in your address book, if you have groups in common, and if their phone number is registered in a different country from yours. From there, you can decide if you should reply, add them as a contact, block them, or report them.”

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